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Defendant takes the stand in Muncie murder trial

MUNCIE, Ind. – A Muncie man testified on Tuesday he fatally stabbed an acquaintance because of that man’s drug-related activities.

Jaylin E. Ammon, 20 – who stood trial this week on a murder charge stemming from the August 2017 slaying of 27-year-old Steven A. Cook – claimed the victim in the weeks before the homicide had provided meth to Ammon’s younger brother.

Ammon was one of two witnesses called to the stand by his public defender, John Quirk, who suggested his client was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Under cross examination by Chief Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman, Ammon acknowledged he knew right from wrong, and that Cook was posing no immediate threat to him when he plunged a knife into the victim's neck, severing a carotid artery.

He also admitted he had tried to hold the mortally wounded man down to make certain he would “bleed out.”

Ammon said the amount of blood flowing from the wound caused Cook to become “slippery.” The victim managed to flee from the scene of the slaying – an apartment house along West Seventh Street – through a window, but he collapsed in the yard outside.

Hoffman and Deputy Prosecutor Steve Sneed on Monday presented the state’s case in the bench trial, in which Delaware Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees, not a jury, will render a verdict.

On Tuesday afternoon, the judge heard testimony from two mental health professionals assigned to evaluate Ammon. Psychiatrist Craig Buckles and psychologist Frank Krause, both testifying by phone, each said they believed the defendant was sane at the time of the killing.

Krause called Ammon a "really sad young man... with a really short fuse." He also said the defendant had been "exposed to some horrendous parenting."

At the end of testimony Tuesday, Vorhees said prosecutors would have until Oct. 10 to file their final argument, in writing. Quirk will have nine days to respond to that, and the judge will then announce her verdict.

In Indiana, a murder conviction carries a maximum 65-year prison term. Quirk has also suggested his client could instead by guilty of a lesser charge, voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony with a maximum 30-year sentence.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.